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So, I've been playing Blood Angels almost exclusively since the mid-90s, but I've never used Sternies. This new dex makes me want to build some, but at the same time I'm like, shoot, isn't the primary purpose of sternies to deep strike with combi-meltas, light up one target, and then take it from there?

Considering that Blood Angel tacticals can drop three flamer templates, and blood angel assault squads can drop four flamer templates or four melta shots, aren't those both far more appealing options for sort of the same battlefield role?

Is there any reason I'd ever take a sternguard squad with combi-meltas over an assault squad with meltaguns and pistol wielding serg?

Is there another use for sternies on the battlefield besides drop podding them?

Halp! I wanna build some but not if they're going to collect dust for the next half decade!

You can just run them in a rhino too. But suicide drop isjust better.

My philosophy is that Sternguard are too valuable to suicide. Their ammo is great, so why not use them as mobile response in a rhino? Drop pods force me to commit early, which I don't always want to do.

Yeah, a rhino full of em to run up the field and help screen my advancing jump infantry is an idea I'm really into, but, like, a tactical squad with 3 flame templates is a pretty excellent choice for that, and it's 80 less points before weapon upgrades. That's HUGE.

Sternies could be good if you were using them to shoot at stuff the flamers couldn't handle, but what kind of loadout would you give them? And would it justify 80 pts and an elite slot?

I think 2+ poison and ranged ignore cover justify it. I still like the divination libby with them to possibly let them use AP 4 round and make them ignore cover! The Sternguard can threaten all kinds of stuff that flamer templates can't.

The Baal strikeforce does have four elites. How many elites can we afford?

Yeah, I was thinking about pairing 9 of em up with a divination librarian might work kind of well. Worst case scenario he twin-links their shots, but the possibility of him giving them ignore cover, a 4+ invul save, or firing overwatch at FULL ballistic skill (!), seems like a squad that could really tear some stuff up.
It'd be 300 pts. before weapon upgrades tho.

Would that squad be able to kill 300 points worth of enemy dudes?

What kind up upgrades would you give it? 2 heavy flamers?
kombi-plasmas? just run it with the basic bolters?
how about the librarian? galahan's staff, or whatever it's called? combi-weapon or a plasma pistol for the lib for sure

In my list, they just have bolters and the libby has no particular weapons, but I have 40 ish pts to spend.

They don't need to kill 300 pts. They need to put wounds on MCs and take out stuff that is not in the path of your DC and other melee units.

Okay, I'll try em in a rhino with a couple of combi-plasmas and a librarian and we'll see how it works.

Note that it won't work at all against Eldar. But basically the whole book fails against them.

Really? I actually thought sternies would do okay against eldar considering how effective a 30" range AP4 bolter would be against aspect warriors, and how effective a volley of poisoned shots would be against wraithlords / knights

I've actually always had an okay time fighting eldar, but then I'm really good at using Meph and librarian dreadnoughts to cut down their wraight knights / lords and then whatever is left hasn't generally posed too much of a threat.

I've seen sternguard do well in a mini-devastator role with a pair of heavy bolters - as noted, those kraken penetrators can throw the squad's fire out to a range that means they matter too.

That said, this was a crimson fists army with a gunline built around Kantor - so the sternguard were slightly better in combat and an integral part of the battleline in a way blood angels ones won't be.